THE
TIME MONSTERBY
ROBERT SLOMANEPISODE ONE
1: THE DOCTOR'S NIGHTMARE
(A volcanic eruption sends huge clouds of dust, ash and clinker skywards. From the basin of volcano, lava fountains upwards over the rim in never-ending waves. The DOCTOR sleeps on a chaise-longue within an area of four pillars in a smoke-filled temple. A fork of lightning fires into the stone of the temple floor and the DOCTOR wakes up with a start. Sitting up, he immediately sees a crystal, in the shape of a trident, glowing with an internal light. It sits within a font-type receptacle in front of which are two erect double-headed axes, the three objects making a point of primitive worship. The DOCTOR suddenly looks upwards. Towering over him is the figure of the MASTER, but increased in height to the proportions of a giant. His evil nemesis gestures down to him.)
MASTER: Welcome! Welcome to your new Master!
(The MASTER starts to laugh in triumph. There is another flash of lightning and the figure fades away. With that there are further plumes of volcanic smoke interspersed with images from ancient times of old Grecian-type faces, statues, artifacts, all surrounded by death and destruction. The DOCTOR hears himself calling out...)
DOCTOR: (OOV.) Jo! Jo! Jo!
(His call is answered...)
JO: (OOV.) Doctor!
2: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The DOCTOR sits up. He is still on the chaise-longue but it is now in the more familiar and comfortable surroundings of his laboratory at UNIT HQ with JO by his side as he wakes up.)
DOCTOR: Jo...
JO: Doctor...are you alright?(The DOCTOR gasps with relief and starts to rub his forehead.)
DOCTOR: Oh, oh, I must have been dreaming.
JO: I'll say you were. A real pippin of a dream. I've brought you a cup of tea.(She holds it up to him but he is still shaken by his nightmare.)
JO: Do you want it?
(He takes it in a shaking hand.)
DOCTOR: Volcanoes and a...and earthquakes.
(He stands up with the cup in his hand. He starts to walk away, but hands the un-tasted drink back to JO, still totally distracted.)
DOCTOR: Thank you. I enjoyed that.
(He crosses to his lab bench in the middle of the room. Although the TARDIS sits in the corner of the laboratory and most of the equipment dotted about would seem to be much like that the DOCTOR has used before, the laboratory itself would seem to be in new premises. Painted brick walls are interrupted by a Venetian-blind covered window and a set of double panelled yellow doors that lead into the corridor.)
JO: Doctor, have you been working all night again?
DOCTOR: Mmm hm.(He picks up a small piece of equipment from his desk.)
JO: On that?
(The DOCTOR nods. JO crosses to join him. She wears a short brown dress with yellow and blue patterning and knee-length yellow boots. She looks at the circuit in the DOCTOR'S hand.)
JO: (Reprovingly.) I don't know. What is anyway - a super dematerialisation circuit?
DOCTOR: No, no. No, that'll have to wait. No, this is far more important. It might make all the difference the next time he turns up.
JO: The next time who turns up?
DOCTOR: The Master, of course. Jo, now listen to me - I want you to find out as quickly as possible if there have been any volcanic eruptions or severe earthquakes recently. It doesn't matter where - anywhere in the world.
JO: You're joking of course!
DOCTOR: Believe me, this is no matter for jokes.
JO: But I read it all out to last night, I...(She tuts.)
JO: Don't go away.
(She crosses to a table where she has previously left a newspaper and collects it, returning with it and sitting on the DOCTOR'S lab bench.)
JO: It just shows you don't listen to a word I say, doesn't it? Now, yes, here we are. (Reads.) "New eruptions in the Thera group of islands." Somewhere off Greece.
DOCTOR: Does it say anything about a crystal?
JO: Crystal?
DOCTOR: Mmm.
JO: No, what crystal? Look, I know I'm exceedingly dim, but would you mind explaining?
DOCTOR: Well, it was in my dream, Jo. There was...there was a large crystal. Shaped like a trident...
3: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(At the Newton institute in Wootton, Cambridge, work progresses on an experiment. It is conducted from a laboratory in a converted stable block which has been divided into two rooms. The second room is beyond a panelled divide which is glazed in the top half and entered through a single door and some steps. Within it, the main piece of machinery appears to be a container type device and near to it are a series of probes. The equipment gives off a constant series of electronic hums. Two figures stand in the room. One is a mature blond woman in a lab coat - DR. RUTH INGRAM. The other person also wears a lab coat and he speaks with a Greek accent. He holds a crystal up, some nine inches high and shaped like a trident. The man is the MASTER.)
MASTER: A simple piece of quartz - nothing more.
(He fixes the crystal within the container device.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: But Professor Thascales, that is ridiculous.
MASTER: Of course it is, Dr. Ingram, of course it is!(He laughs indulgently and fixes a perspex cover over the crystal.)
MASTER: You know, there is no means whereby I could prove to you that that crystal is any different from any other piece of quartz, and yet...it is unique. As you say; ridiculous!
(Taking his lab coat off, he moves into the first room, through a door marked "WARNING RADIATION".)
4: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(He hangs the lab coat on a stand. Under it, he wears a shirt and tie. The first room has even more pieces of equipment within it and is the main room of the operation. It is obvious that the equipment in the second room is divided off for safety reasons.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: So, this is the missing piece of equipment we've been waiting for?
MASTER: Exactly.(The door from the corridor bursts opens and a moustached young man rushes in. His slightly unkempt appearance is complimented by his somewhat frantic manner.)
STUART HYDE: I'll swear I switched that alarm off in my sleep!
(He suddenly catches sight of the MASTER who is putting his suit jacket on.)
STUART HYDE: (Abashed.) Oh, sorry, Prof.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Simmer down, Stu, for pete's sake.
MASTER: Please do not call me "Prof".
STUART HYDE: In the doghouse again!(The MASTER addresses the two of them in a courteous yet firm manner, typical of a senior professor to two students.)
MASTER: Now quiet, both of you. Now listen - I have a meeting with the new director in two and a half minutes. So, I'm afraid I shall have to leave the final tests for the demonstration to the two of you.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: But aren't we going to have trail run, Professor?
MASTER: No, it's not necessary.
STUART HYDE: Well, that's marvellous! We're going to look a right bunch of Charlies if this fellow from the Grants Committee turns up and we're left with egg on our faces.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Yes, surely, Professor, it would be better if...
MASTER: (Interrupting gently.) Now look, my dear, there is no need for you to worry your pretty little head!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: And there's no need for you to be so patronising, Professor. Look, just because I'm a woman, there's no need to treat me like...(STUART raises his eyes to heaven.)
STUART HYDE: Here we go!
MASTER: (Interrupts.) No, no, no, I'm sorry. You're quite right, Doctor. Please forgive me.(He bows and opens the door. RUTH'S steely face shows that her anger is not abated.)
MASTER: And now, erm, do please run those tests?
(He closes the door.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: That man! You know, I don't what infuriates me more - his dictatorial manner or that infernal courtesy of his.
(She starts to note down readings from the equipment on her clipboard.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: It's all the same really - a bland assumption of male superiority.
STUART HYDE: May God bless the good ship women's lib and all who sail in her!
5: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(CAPTAIN MIKE YATES unfurls and map on the lab bench and points to a series of islands.)
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: There you are, Jo - the Thera group. Those little islands there.
JO: Doctor?(The DOCTOR is still working on his piece of equipment across the lab.)
DOCTOR: Mmm?
JO: Come and take a look.
DOCTOR: No, not now, Jo, I'm busy.
JO: But it's the map you asked for.
DOCTOR: Oh?(He glances at the map.)
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: There, you see?
DOCTOR: Thera. (Tuts.) It doesn't mean a thing to me.(JO peers closer at the map.)
JO: Well, its says... "Santorini" in brackets. Well that must be another name for it. How about that?
DOCTOR: Oh, let's forget all about it, Jo, shall we? Well, I just had a nightmare, that's all.(MIKE rolls the map up.)
JO: Sorry, Mike.
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: Ha! Better than hanging round the duty room. If nothing turns up soon, I'll go round the twist.
JO: (Laughs.) That makes two of us. Here was I, all ready for a nice little trip to Atlantis...
DOCTOR: (Alert.) What?
JO: Well nothing, I was just saying to Mike...
DOCTOR: (Interrupts.) Yes, I heard what you said, but you said Atlantis - why Atlantis?
JO: Well that's what it says in the paper.(The DOCTOR puts down his equipment and at last takes an interest.)
DOCTOR: Give me that map, Captain Yates.
(MIKE again unrolls the map onto the bench as JO finds the paragraph is the paper.)
JO: Yes, here we are - (Reads.) "Believed by many modern historians to be all that remains of Plato's metropolis of Atlantis."
DOCTOR: (To himself.) Of course, of course!
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: Atlantis? I thought that was supposed to be in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean?
JO: Well, you're a bit out of date. Apparently it was part of the Minoan civilisation. Oh, you know - the Minotaur and all the Cretan jazz.
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: It's only a legend though, isn't it?(The DOCTOR is still absorbed in the map.)
DOCTOR: Jo, get me the Brigadier, will you?
JO: What - now?
DOCTOR: (Snaps.) Yes, now!
JO: Oh, all right.(She crosses to a desk phone. MIKE joins her as she starts to dial.)
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: The Brig? Why the Brig, for heaven's sake?
JO: Search me.(The DOCTOR looks intensely thoughtful and serious as JO makes the call.)
JO: Doctor? It's the Brigadier.
(He takes the phone from her.)
DOCTOR: (Into phone.) Hello, Brigadier? It's the Doctor here. Now listen to me - I want you to put out a world-wide warning. Alert all your precious UNIT HQ's, not that it'll do any good...
6: INT. UNIT HQ. BRIGADIER'S OFFICE
(Sat behind his desk, the BRIGADIER'S eyebrows rise.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Into phone, sarcastically.) Thank you very much. And against what precisely am I supposed to be warning the world?
DOCTOR: (OOV: Over phone.) The Master. I've just seen him.(The BRIGADIER sits up.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Into phone.) Seen him? Where? When?
7: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The DOCTOR looks slightly embarrassed...)
DOCTOR: (Into phone.) In a dream.
8: INT. UNIT HQ. BRIGADIER'S OFFICE
(The BRIGADIER does not look impressed...)
9: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
DOCTOR: (Into phone.) Not half an hour ago.
10: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE
(A small clock tower sits on top of the former stable block. The MASTER comes out through the main archway past a sign on the stable block which reads:)
THE
NEWTON INSTITUTELABORATORY AREA
STRICTLY OUT OF BOUNDS
TO ALL UNAUTHORISED PERSONS
11: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The BRIGADIER has joined the DOCTOR in his laboratory watched on by JO and MIKE YATES.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: In any case, Doctor, every section of UNIT now has the search for the Master written into standing orders.
DOCTOR: (Caustically.) Priority Z-one hundred and forty four, I suppose?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Patiently.) Priority A-one actually.
DOCTOR: Look, I tell you, Brigadier - there is grave danger.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Danger of what, for heavens sake?
DOCTOR: Well, I'm not sure, but in my dream I quite clearly saw...
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Interrupts.) You know, if this got out, you'll be the laughing stock of UNIT. A dream - really, Doctor, you'll be consulting the entrails of a sheep next.(JO bursts into laughter. The DOCTOR gives her a pained look.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Right, we'd better be on our way to the UNIT institute. Ready, Doctor?
DOCTOR: No, I can't go anywhere at the moment. I'm far too busy.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: But I told them you'd be coming. Two observers from UNIT, I said.
JO: Well, shall I go?
DOCTOR: No, certainly not, Jo. I shall need you here with me.
JO: Well, what's it all about anyway?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: TOMTIT - that's what it's all about. A demonstration of TOMTIT.
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: TOMTIT? What on earth does that stand for?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Well, it's the...the trans...(The DOCTOR interrupts his struggling explanation...)
DOCTOR: Transmission Of Matter Through Interstitial Time.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Yes, exactly what I was going to say - TOMTIT.
JO: Well, what does it do?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Oh, it's a brilliant idea, apparently it can break down solid objects into light-waves or whatever, and transmit them from one place to another.
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: And it works?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Apparently. Well, Yates, I suppose you'd better come with me.
CAPTAIN MIKE YATES: Sorry, sir. I'm Duty Officer.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: (Exasperated.) Well, someone's gotta come!(The lab door opens and SERGEANT BENTON, dressed in civvies and carrying a bag, enters.)
SERGEANT BENTON: I'm just leaving, sir.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Ah, Sergeant Benton - the very man.
SERGEANT BENTON: But I'm just off on a forty-eight hour pass, sir.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Oh no, you're not, Sergeant. You're coming for a little trip to the Newton Institute.
SERGEANT BENTON: (Sighs.) Yes, sir. The where, sir? The Newton Institute?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: That's right. It's a research establishment at Wootton, just outside Cambridge.
12: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. DIRECTOR'S OFFICE
(Within the director's office of the institute in the main house, a furious row is taking place. The office is elegantly furnished with leather chairs and prints on the wall. The MASTER stands before the desk of the director where a distinguished although elderly man called DR. PERCIVAL sits.)
MASTER: (Shouts.) A charlatan! How dare you!
(In his anger, he has lost his Greek Accent.)
DR. PERCIVAL: (Shouts.) Dr. Cook is not only chairman of the Grants Committee, but a colleague and a personal friend. Am I to tell him this afternoon that I am as gullible as that drunkard I have replaced? How is it that I can find no trace of your academic career before you visited Athens University, Professor?
(He leaps to his feet.)
DR. PERCIVAL: (Shouts.) How is it that you publish nothing? That you refuse to reveal the hypothesis behind your so-called experiment? That the very name of your project is arrogant nonsense?! TOMTIT! What, pray, is "Interstitial Time"?
MASTER: You're a very clever man, director. I can see that I shall have to tell you everything. Oh, yes, you...you're perfectly right. I am no professor...
DR. PERCIVAL: Ah, say no more...
MASTER: But do please hear me out.(DR. PERCIVAL laughs as he sits down.)
MASTER: I can see that you're very upset...
DR. PERCIVAL: Upset!
MASTER: But there is nothing to worry about. You must believe me...(The MASTER leans over the desk and stares hypnotically into the director's eyes.)
MASTER: You must believe me!
(His words seem to echo in DR. PERCIVAL'S head and he stares back at the MASTER.)
MASTER: You must...believe me...
DR. PERCIVAL: (Haltingly.) Must...believe you...
MASTER: I am the Master. You will listen to me...and you will obey me! You...will...obey...me!
DR. PERCIVAL: (Haltingly.) Obey...obey. I will obey.(The MASTER relaxes.)
MASTER: Now you just sit there quietly and await the arrival of this wretched man from London. And remember - you are perfectly satisfied as to the authenticity of my credentials, and the integrity of my work here. You understand?
(DR. PERCIVAL is held by the MASTER'S eyes.)
DR. PERCIVAL: Yes...I understand.
13: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(RUTH and STUART are running their tests as requested. RUTH is in the first room, running down the items on her clipboard communicating with STUART in the second room by intercom.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Into intercom.) One, point, three-five-nine.
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) One, point, three-five-nine, check.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Into intercom.) Two, point, o-four-five.
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) Two, point, o-four-five, check.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Into intercom.) Three, point, o-six-two.
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) Three, point, o-six-two, check.
14: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(STUART, in the second room, is looking at the readings on the equipment in there.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Over intercom.) Five-nine and steady.
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Five-nine and steady.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Over intercom.) And that's the lot.
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) And that's the lot, check, check, check!
15: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
DR. RUTH INGRAM: And now we just stand around and wait.
(Their tests over, STUART comes through the partition door and joins RUTH in the first room.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: You know, I still think it's just plain stupid not to do a trial run. It's ludicrous.
STUART HYDE: Ludicrous - check!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Oh, grow up, Stu.
STUART HYDE: No, but I mean it, love. It is ludicrous. I mean, just suppose this thing won't wag its tail when we tell it to?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, they withdraw the grant.
STUART HYDE: As sure as God made little green apples, and bang goes my fellowship.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Bang goes my job - and my reputation too, for that matter. (Tuts.) Men - it's their conceit that bugs me.
STUART HYDE: Hey, hey, I'm on your side, remember?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Oh, you don't count.
STUART HYDE: Oh, don't I? And why not, may I ask?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Look, don't bully me, Stu, or I think I'll burst into tears.(STUART returns to his clipboard. He makes a note and then a thought strikes him.)
STUART HYDE: Let's do it!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: What?
STUART HYDE: Have a run through.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Without him?
STUART HYDE: Well, why not?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, it is his project. I mean, he's the boss.
STUART HYDE: Nominally. But do you think how much you've put into it. It's a joint affair. I reckon you've as much right to take a decision as he has.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Considers.) Well...
STUART HYDE: Course, if you need a man in charge...?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: That does it! We go ahead.
STUART HYDE: That's my girl!(He smiles and gives her a friendly hug. She smiles back.)
16: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The DOCTOR is fixing in the back panel of his new device with a screwdriver. It is made to be held in the hand and has two circular dials in the bottom of the face and a small radar-dish type receiver at the top.)
JO: You know, Doctor, you're quite the most infuriating man I've ever met.
(The DOCTOR smiles at her as he carries on working.)
JO: I've asked you at least a million times - what is it?
DOCTOR: Extraordinary - I could have sworn I'd told you. It's a time sensor.
JO: (Uncertain.) Oh, I see.
DOCTOR: Do you? Well, what's it do then?
JO: (Haltingly.) W...well, it, erm...
DOCTOR: Mmm hm?
JO: It, erm, detects disturbances in a time field.(The DOCTOR'S stops work with some surprise. He turns to her in delight.)
DOCTOR: Well done, Jo, you're learning! It's exactly what you need if you happen to be looking for a TARDIS.
JO: (Smiles.) It's a "TARDIS sniffer-outer"!
DOCTOR: Yeah, or any other time machine, for that matter. So, if the Master turns up again...
JO: Bingo!
DOCTOR: As you so rightly say - Bingo!
17: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(STUART has taken off his white lab coat and is climbing into a silver radiation suit.)
STUART HYDE: I feel like the back end of a pantomime horse.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Very suitable for a keen young man like you.
STUART HYDE: Eh, come again?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Starting at the bottom.
STUART HYDE: Ooh! Anyway, it's just a waste of time. Why should there be any radiation in the receiver room? We're only going to use about ten degrees.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Are you willing to take the risk?(He takes a radiation hood out of a locker.)
STUART HYDE: No.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, stop beefing then and get on with it.(Putting the hood on, he enters the second room watched by a smiling RUTH. She crosses to the main control unit of TOMTIT and switches it on. The sound of the power starts to rise.)
18: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE
(Outside, a ladder is placed against the window of the second floor laboratory in the stable block and a WINDOW CLEANER, bucket in hand, starts to ascend.)
19: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(He reaches the window and starts to clean it, but his attention is rapidly caught by the sight of STUART in his radiation suit inside the lab, bent over the equipment and passing on readings to RUTH through the intercom.)
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Interstitial activity - nil.
20: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(Inside the first laboratory, a white vase has been placed on a metal plate connected to the equipment.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Into intercom.) Molecular structure stable. Increasing power. Two-o, two-five, three-o...
21: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(JO holds the time sensor and calls over to the open door of the TARDIS.)
JO: I say, Doctor, you're not going to disappear to Venus or anywhere like that, are you?
DOCTOR: (OOV: Inside the TARDIS, laughs.) No, no. You just keep your eye on those dials.(Suddenly the time sensor bursts into life. It emits a chattering signal as the dish turns and a light flashes.)
JO: It's working!
DOCTOR: (OOV: Inside the TARDIS.) Well, of course it's working. Now make a note of the readings, will you?
JO: Alright.(She grabs a pen and paper.)
22: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(The test run continues...)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Into intercom.) Three-five, four-o, four-five...
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) Check, check, check!(A dial starts to rise rapidly on a meter.)
23: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The time sensor dies down and the DOCTOR comes out of the TARDIS with a grin on his face.)
JO: Well done.
DOCTOR: Thank you.(JO hands him the pad of paper.)
JO: It's a bit out on distance though. It says the TARDIS is only a foot away.
DOCTOR: Well, that's venusian feet.
JO: Oh, they're larger than ours?
DOCTOR: Oh yeah, much larger. Almost tripping over themselves, the Venusians.(They laugh and the DOCTOR sits at the bench to start going over the figures.)
DOCTOR: Good, that's good.
(The time sensor starts up again.)
JO: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Mmm?
JO: I think you must have left something on in the TARDIS.
DOCTOR: No, I certainly didn't - why?
JO: Well it's started again.(He looks at the sensor.)
DOCTOR: That's impossible unless...
JO: Unless what?
DOCTOR: Another TARDIS!
24: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(In the second lab, a series of probes that hang over a metal plate similar to that in the first laboratory, They are flashing with light.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Over intercom.) Isolate matrix scanner.
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Check.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Over intercom.) Five-o, five-five, six-o.(The faint outline of the vase appears on the plate.)
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) It's going to work!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Over intercom.) Write down the ___. Stand by. Initiating transfer...now!(STUART presses a switch and starts the countdown as the crystal within the equipment starts to glow with an unearthly light...)
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Ten...nine...eight...
25: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. DIRECTOR'S OFFICE
(The MASTER has requisitioned the director's office for himself. He sits at the desk completing some paperwork when the clock over the nearby stable block starts to chime. But the sounds of the bell are slowed down as if time itself is being affected. He jumps up and looks through the window at the clock which sits atop the stable block to the right of the building he is in now.)
26: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE
(The clock shows eleven o'clock but its chiming is getting slower...)
27: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. DIRECTOR'S OFFICE
(The MASTER turns from the window.)
MASTER: Why - the fools!
(He runs from the office.)
28: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(Her hands on the controls, RUTH watches the vase intently.)
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) Four...three...two...one!
(RUTH slams a lever home and the sound of the equipment starts to reach a crescendo. The vase fades away from its place on the plate...)
29: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(...and reappears on its counterpart in the second room. The watching WINDOW CLEANER'S jaw drops.)
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Okay, Ruth - switch off! We've done it!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Over intercom.) Stuart, come here!
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Eh?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Over intercom.) Come here, Stuart!(He snatches his hood off and runs next door as the WINDOW CLEANER continues to watch.)
30: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(As STUART joins RUTH, the equipment is starting to run away...)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: The positive feedback - she's overloading! Look, you'll have to bring the surge down as I reduce the power or she'll blow.
STUART HYDE: Right!(He takes his place at another part of the equipment.)
31: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(The WINDOW CLEANER still looks on in astonishment.)
32: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE
(He loses both his concentration and his footing and starts to fall off the ladder. However, the speed of his fall is as slowed down as the chiming of the clock. Nevertheless, he falls badly. After a moment, a door opens in the main house and the MASTER emerges. He quickly sees the fallen CLEANER and the ladder against the window. His face grows thunderous and he makes his way towards the laboratory without doing anything for the stricken man.)
33: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(RUTH and STUART have managed to shut TOMTIT down and hug each other in delight at the success of their unauthorised test.)
STUART HYDE: We've done it!
(She nods excitedly and he starts to dance her in circles round the room.)
STUART HYDE: We've done it! We've done it! We've done it! We've done it! We've done it! We've done it! We've done it! We've done it!
(They reach the door which has opened to admit a furious MASTER. The guilty pair breaks apart.)
34: INT. UNIT HQ. LABORATORY
(The DOCTOR consults a map of south-east England.)
DOCTOR: Now, I put it somewhere in that sector there. Anywhere between...
(He checks the scale of the map.)
DOCTOR: Well, fifty and a hundred miles from here.
JO: Well, that's not much to go on.
DOCTOR: No, not unless he switches his TARDIS on again.
JO: Well, you never know - he might.
DOCTOR: If we were a bit nearer...and in Bessie.
JO: Right - let's go! You take the map.(He does so with a smile as JO grabs the time sensor.)
35: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(The MASTER has resumed his Greek accent as he gives his two assistants a dressing down.)
MASTER: You are a fool, Dr. Ingram!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Angrily.) You have no right to call me a fool...
MASTER: (Interrupts.) Be silent! You may have caused irreparable damage.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Look, I was in full control the whole time...
MASTER: (Interrupts.) That is irrelevant. Mr. Hyde, why did you permit this stupidity?
STUART HYDE: Here, hang about, mate. I'm not my sister's keeper. She's the boss. Anyway, I suggested it.
MASTER: Yes, I might have guessed that. You're behaving like a...an irresponsible schoolboy! You'll pay for this!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: The decision, professor, was entirely mine!
MASTER: Ah, I see, therefore...
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Interrupts.) I take...I take full responsibility for testing the apparatus, and I'm prepared to justify my actions at the highest level. Perhaps we'd better go and see the director right away and sort this out.
MASTER: (Hastily.) No, no, no, no, no, no. I'm sorry, doctor, please excuse me. That won't be necessary. We need take this matter no further.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, that's all very well, professor, but after what you...
MASTER: (Interrupts.) Please, doctor, accept my apologies.(RUTH calms down.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Oh well, perhaps it was a bit unethical of me not to have told you.
STUART HYDE: Oh, come off it, Ruth! He's only climbing down because he doesn't want us to walk out. He needs us for the demo.
MASTER: How very clever of you, Mr. Hyde. Of course I need you - both of you.
STUART HYDE: After all, prof, we couldn't risk a foul-up disaster when the...
MASTER: (Interrupts.) No, no, no, no, say no more. The whole matter is closed.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well...not quite, professor. You see, it wasn't exactly plain sailing. We had some sort of a positive feedback - an overload.
MASTER: But...but that is impossible!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: See for yourself.(As STUART starts to divest himself of the radiation suit, she tears a sheet of computer readings off a nearby printer and passes it to the MASTER.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Mmm? See?
(STUART spots something through the open door and crosses over to look in.)
MASTER: I see. Yes... Of course, how foolish of me!
STUART HYDE: Hey, Ruth, professor, come here!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: What is it, Stu?
STUART HYDE: The crystal - it's still glowing!
36: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(The MASTER and RUTH join him in the open doorway and look through at the glowing crystal.)
MASTER: Well, of course it is!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, you know what caused the overload then?
37: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
MASTER: Yes, don't you see? You were drawing power from somewhere outside of time itself. Now, what we have to do is to build a time vector filter into the transmitter here. Look, let me show you - something like this...
(He starts to draw a design on the clipboard he is holding as STUART goes back to the locker near the window to put his radiation suit back.)
MASTER: And... it's a paracybernetic control circuit, in fact.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Yes, but won't that take some time to set up? The demonstration's at two.
MASTER: Mmm, yes, I'm afraid it will take some time, and I'm afraid I will have to leave it to you, because I am expected to eat a pretentious meal and exchange pleasantries with our distinguished guests.
STUART HYDE: That's all right, prof. You go and enjoy your nosh. Leave it to the toiling masses.
MASTER: Mr. Hyde, I have every faith in you - and in you, doctor. There.(He passes the clipboard to RUTH and points and mutters further instructions as STUART looks through the window and calls out to the pair of them.)
STUART HYDE: Hey, you'd better get your skates on. The VIP's are arriving...escorted by a UNIT jeep, no less.
(Understandably, this grabs the MASTER'S attention.)
MASTER: What?
(He joins STUART at the window.)
38: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE
(A limousine and the UNIT jeep proceed along the driveway of the extensive grounds of the house. As they get nearer, they approach the fallen and forgotten WINDOW CLEANER. The occupants of the vehicles, the BRIGADIER included, get out and approach the man.)
39: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
MASTER: What are they doing here?
STUART HYDE: Military observers, happens all the time. They're the only ones with enough money for our sort of nonsense.
MASTER: I see. (To RUTH.) Dr. Ingram, I've changed my mind. I will set up this filter myself.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, I'm perfectly capable of constructing a simple, professor.(The MASTER tries to steer her towards the door.)
MASTER: I am sure that you are equally capable of devouring a tough pheasant on my behalf.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, why can't you go and devour it?
MASTER: Look, doctor, please...I am lifelong pacifist. Now the association of the military with killing, with...with violence...please bear with me.(She hands him the clipboard and he takes it away.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Very well. I'll get them to send some sandwiches across to you.
STUART HYDE: (Quietly.) Good thinking, batman. We've got a nutcase on our hands!
40: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE
(The BRIGADIER is examining the WINDOW CLEANER as two pin-stripe suited civil servants walk up. The taller and more senior of the two - DR. COOK - demonstrates the lowest possible interest in his caustic manner. The other - PROCTOR - carries his superior's case and hangs permanently behind his master's shoulder.)
DR. COOK: He's not dead?
(The BRIGADIER finishes his examination as SERGEANT BENTON, now back in uniform, walks up behind them.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: No, he's still breathing.
DR. COOK: Who is he?
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Well, the window cleaner, I presume. He must have fallen off that ladder. It's a miracle he's still alive.
DR. COOK: Oh, poor fellow. Well, come along, Proctor. I trust you'll make the necessary arrangements to get him into hospital?(They walk off towards the house, uninterested in the reply.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Of course, sir. Sergeant Benton?
SERGEANT BENTON: Sir?
41: EXT. ROAD
(Bessie makes its way down a road and through a stretch of typical English countryside. From the passenger seat, JO looks up at the grey sky.)
JO: Huh, it's a doomy old day. I mean, just look at that sky - just look at it!
DOCTOR: Do stop wiffleing, Jo? There's a good girl. We're not out on a pleasure jaunt, you know?
JO: Sorry, Doctor.
DOCTOR: Only, if it is the Master, we can't run the risk of losing him. You just keep your eye on the time sensor.
JO: Right.(She does so. It starts up almost immediately.)
JO: Doctor?
DOCTOR: Yeah?
JO: It's working again.(He brakes as JO looks at the dials.)
DOCTOR: What's the bearing?
JO: Er, o-seven-four, and, er, sixteen point three-nine miles away.
DOCTOR: So, that's venusian miles. In earth miles, that's be...about seventy two, point seven-nine. Let's take a look at the map.(He checks their bearings.)
DOCTOR: Well, we're about here.
JO: Mmm.
DOCTOR: That should put us somewhere around...there. A village called Wootton.
JO: Wootton? Well that's where the Brigadier and Sergeant Benton are.
DOCTOR: TOMTIT? Well, if the Master's behind that...? What time's the demonstration?
JO: Two o'clock.
DOCTOR: Well, we've got to stop it. Hang on tight, Jo.(He pulls out a lever on a unit marked "SUPER DRIVE". Bessie shoots off at an incredible speed.)
42: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE
(The stable clock shows a quarter to two.)
43: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. CORRIDOR
(Led by RUTH, DR'S COOK and PERCIVAL make their way to the laboratory followed by the BRIGADIER, BENTON and PROCTOR.)
DR. COOK: There you are, Charles. It may seem churlish of me after eating your excellent lunch. How your institute can afford pheasant, I really don't know.
44: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(RUTH opens the door and they enter the empty laboratory.)
DR. PERCIVAL: We are in the depths of the country, you know?
DR. COOK: Be that as it may. We are responsible for international funds - public money. I doubt very much whether we should allow ourselves the luxury of either pheasants...or TOMTITS.(Only PROCTOR laughs at his bosses joke.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, the professor doesn't seem to be here, gentlemen.
DR. PERCIVAL: Obviously.(STUART comes in from the second room. He has donned his radiation suit again but minus the hood.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Ah, Stuart, where's the professor?
STUART HYDE: Search me. He was here a couple of minutes ago.
DR. COOK: (To PERCIVAL.) Who is this fellow, Thascales, anyway? I've never heard of him.
DR. PERCIVAL: Oh, an excellent background. Surely you've read his paper on the granular structure of time?
DR. COOK: All I can do to keep up with the departmental minutes. I leave all the rest to Proctor.(The BRIGADIER looks over the various components which make up TOMTIT.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: That's a fearsome looking load of electronic nonsense you've got together, Dr. Ingram? How does it all work? In words of one syllable.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: I'll do my best. Well, gentleman, to begin with, time isn't smooth. It's made up of little bits.
STUART HYDE: A series of minute present moments.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Mm, that's it - temporal atoms, so to speak. So, if one could push something through the interstices between them, it would be outside our space-time continuum altogether.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Where would it be then?
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Well, nowhere at all in ordinary terms.
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: You've lost me, Dr. Ingram.
DR. COOK: And me. I've never heard such a farrago of unscientific rubbish in all my life. It's a impossible situation.
STUART HYDE: But we've done it. We shoved that vase through and brought it back, in there.(He points to both the vase and the second room.)
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: But shoved it through where, for goodness sake?
SERGEANT BENTON: Sort of...through the crack between now and...now, sir.
STUART HYDE: Right - you've got it!
BRIGADIER LETHBRIDGE STEWART: Well, I give up. It's beyond me.(Behind them the MASTER has entered the room but dressed head to toe in a second radiation suit in order to hide his appearance from the two soldiers.)
MASTER: Then you must see for yourselves, gentlemen.
(They all turn and look at him as he walks over to the equipment.)
MASTER: I apologise for keeping you waiting. Shall we begin?
45: EXT. ROAD
(JO is scared at Bessie's speed and yells above the roar of the engine...)
JO: (Shouts.) Doctor, slow down. It's not safe to drive so quickly - please!
DOCTOR: (Shouts.) Nonsense! It's perfectly safe. My reactions are ten times faster than yours. Bessie's no ordinary car, remember?(They shoot along towards a crossroads and stop instantly at the give-way line. JO moves forward slightly in her seat but with nothing like the force that she expected. The DOCTOR smiles.)
DOCTOR: See what I mean?
JO: (Shocked.) But why didn't I go through the windscreen?
DOCTOR: Well, the brakes work by the absorption of inertia - including yours.(The time sensor starts up again.)
JO: It's working again.
DOCTOR: Right, come on, Bessie, old girl. It's up to you now.(He starts the engine and Bessie tears off...)
46: EXT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. GROUNDS
(...and into the grounds of the institute.)
47: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(RUTH places a cup and saucer on the transfer plate of the equipment as the MASTER stands at the controls. STUART is in the second room as the observers watch. The hum of the equipment starts to build up.)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Surely you don't need to wear anti-radiation gear, professor?
MASTER: In case of an emergency, doctor. I may have to join Mr. Hyde in a hurry. (Into intercom.) Report, Mr. Hyde?
48: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Interstitial activity- nil.
49: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
(RUTH gives off the readings from her unit...)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Molecular structure - stable. Four-o, four-five, five-o.
MASTER: Increase in power.
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Into intercom.) Isolate matrix scanner.
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) Check.(A strident note appears within the hum of the equipment...)
DR. RUTH INGRAM: Six-o, six-five, seven-o, seven-five...
MASTER: Increase in power!
DR. RUTH INGRAM: It's gone into the second quadrant already, professor.
MASTER: I know what I'm doing, doctor. Initiating transfer - now.(He slams home the lever watched by a worried RUTH.)
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) Ten, nine, eight...
50: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
(The crystal starts to glow with an intense light.)
STUART HYDE: (Into intercom.) Seven, six, five...
51: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
STUART HYDE: (Over intercom.) Four, three, two, one...
(The cup and saucer disappear in front of the eyes of the astonished observers. Once again, the hum of the equipment starts to run away. RUTH looks towards STUART in the second room in alarm.)
52: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. SECOND ROOM
STUART HYDE: (Shouts, into intercom.) I'm getting too much power! I can't hold it! Switch off!
(He suddenly grabs his head in pain.)
53: INT. NEWTON INSTITUTE. LABORATORY. FIRST ROOM
DR. RUTH INGRAM: (Shouts.) Turn it off, professor! Turn it off!
(The MASTER looks upwards and slams up higher the power lever...)
MASTER: (Shouts.) Come, Kronos, come!
Dr. Who
JON PERTWEEMaster
ROGER DELGADOJo Grant
KATY MANNINGBrigadier Lethbridge Stewart
NICHOLAS COURTNEYCaptain Mike Yates
RICHARD FRANKLINSergeant Benton
JOHN LEVENEDr. Ruth Ingram
WANDA MOOREStuart Hyde
IAN COLLIERDr. Percival
JOHN WYSEDr. Cook
NEVILLE BARBERProctor
BARRY ASHTONWindow Cleaner
TERRY WALSHWritten by
ROBERT SLOMANTitle Music by
RON GRAINER
and BBC Radiophonic WorkshopMusic
DUDLEY SIMPSONSpecial Sound
BRIAN HODGSONCostume Design
BARBARA LANEMakeup
JOAN BARRETTVisual Effects Designer
MICHAELJOHN HARRISFilm Cameraman
PETER HAMILTONFilm Sound
DEREK MEDUSFilm Editor
MARTYN DAYStudio Lighting
DEREK HOBDAYStudio Sound
TONY MILLIERScript Editor
TERRANCE DICKSDesigner
TIM GLEESONProducer
BARRY LETTSDirected by
PAUL BERNARD
COLOUR
© BBC 1972